


Dangers of believing in a god

by Etnoe



Category: Eight Days of Luke - Diana Wynne Jones
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-13
Updated: 2011-04-13
Packaged: 2017-10-18 00:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/183054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/pseuds/Etnoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Astrid thinks Luke really needs to get a new sense of humour. "Fending off all those women probably did his reflexes good, but David's too down to earth to like the attention from the newspaper people."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dangers of believing in a god

"It does him all the good in the world," Luke said. Astrid didn't believe him, which he seemed to pick up on it; he adjusted his innocent look with a change to the wideness of his eyes and broadening his smile. Astrid imagined a little figure in Luke's head twiddling knobs to make the expression perfect, and she had to swallow a smile.

"I don't know if I can make myself believe that," she said. "I'm sure the running improves his speed for the cricket pitch, and fending off all those women probably did his reflexes good, but David's too down to earth to like the attention from the newspaper people."

"I'm glad they were there. They had cameras!" Alan said. His cheeks were red, and he sat slung out on the sitting room couch as if he'd been punched in the face and was seeing beautiful stars. "Bloody good thing ... the lads at school would never have believed this otherwise."

"There's school to think of!" Astrid said, rounding on Luke again. "You have to think how _other_ people are going to see these two after the ... events that you ... create. People are going to take note, you know."

"It should be all right. There don't seem to be many sorcerers around these days, so there's not much danger of anyone working out the truth." Luke winked. "It was just a bit of fun. You could hardly call that a riot - barely ten minutes of running down the street."

Astrid gave up and began to laugh. "Oh, it shouldn't be funny," she gasped between bouts of laughter. "Just - the three of you, running in front of all those women - David shouting like that-"

She put her hand over her mouth as if it made her laughter less obvious and walked over to the chair where David sat. He was hunched and indignant, as he'd often been at the dining room table at the old house. He seemed to think it was as good as being invisible, but there might as well have been a thundercloud brewing above his head.

Astrid put a hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, David. I can't help it!" A stubborn giggle escaped her. "At least we're all used to things like this by now, I suppose..."

David gave Luke a horrible frown, and she squeezed David's shoulder. "Let me heat up dinner, all right? Then we can all recover."

She was already in the kitchen before she remembered to ask, and stepped back to the door to poke her head back into the sitting room. "You're staying, aren't you Luke?"

"Of course," he said with an easy smile.

She noticed another dark look pass from David to Luke and wondered what the problem might be. This wasn't exactly an unusual situation (relatively speaking), but David seemed upset. But she didn't wonder too much, because this was ultimately between Luke and David - and just recently she had decided that she didn't need to think too much about what that involved.

\---

Luke had stayed for dinner as he often did, and he'd stayed over for the night, which was as common. David found the way Luke had behaved all night annoying, because it was the same way Luke always behaved. After what he'd done that afternoon, behaving as if everything was normal was an obvious act. He couldn't have taken David and Alan's stray comments about meeting someone who wasn't a silly schoolgirl seriously, because no one meant that kind of thing. Those things were just _said_. Then Luke had given that certain grin and an entire woman's marathon had turned off course and headed for the three of them.

"Trying to prove a point, are you?" David said. He looked away from the show of shadows and light in the corner, and instead watched Luke conducting it with one lazy finger. Luke was obviously about to fall asleep; years after being freed he still tired easily.

"It's a good point, you've got to admit." Luke smiled, and the sparks burned from yellow to orange.

"I don't think the best way to get it across is to have me chased by a horde. Something you might want to keep in mind." David flopped back on to his pillow, attacked by his sulk once again.

"The best part is that Alan and Astrid don't mind anymore," Luke said, his voice dreamy. "They used to get frightened when I did things like this..."

"It was ... a bad idea, you know. Doing that to those people."

"It was difficult, too. I'm not good with love at all. That's Freya's domain." Luke sounded proud.

"Don't bother next time, all right?" David turned his head to watch the light-shapes in the corner, then said a bit anxiously, "Luke?"

"Yes, all right. I won't do it again."

The spark-constructed figure stalking in the corner gave David a rusty red smile between white lips. The colour of the teeth blossomed through the corners of the mouth, following their upwards turn - and flowed to the figure's head to crown it with devil's horns.

"You're being a bit of a tosser," David pointed out. He sat up to look at Luke, who was grinning at him.

"This is a much nicer way of making my point," Luke said, all innocence. Then the grin faded, perhaps because he was tired, and he looked a little more honest. "People have always seen evil in a human form. They always thought of me as a human, in the days before I was imprisoned, and these days your demons only have two little horns that show they're not normal. Even if I look like a human, David, you shouldn't forget the truth."

David stirred uneasily, and pretended that he was only trying to pull up the covers a bit from under Luke. "But that's not the truth. I've read what you did in the old days, and there are the things you do like what happened this afternoon. But you aren't evil. I know you're not. So it's all okay, isn't it?"

Luke's expression was troubled. "It shouldn't be."

"Why are you worrying about this, anyway?" It wasn't normal. David was the one who worried, and usually the only one to express any kind of regret.

"You're my friend. And you're just human." It was a strange thing to hear coming from a boyish, normal face. "I'm probably more trouble than you should be having, and you don't even mind. Your friends and family don't, either ... it's getting dangerous."

"None of that bothered you before," David said mutinously. "You're my friend too. I like it that way, and I don't want to send you away. You can go on your own, if you like."

"You don't want me to?" Luke's voice was restless, verging on irritated.

"Nope," David said firmly. And then Luke was planted in front of his face, hands on his raised knees and that familiar intent look on his face.

"I'm a god. I'll always be around. And you want it this way?" Luke's voice was clipped, as if he were tense. He must be, David thought a bit dizzily, to speak openly about what he was. He could do magic, talk about how old he was, and all sorts of things, but it was rare for him to say _god_ or _Loki_.

"Yes," said David, wondering if it were fair to have to answer questions when faced so closely with fire-flecked eyes. There must be some trick to them that Luke hadn't mentioned yet. "Stay."

The pressure of the hands on his knees made him flatten his legs onto the bed, a little apart from each other, and Luke lay down.

Shortly after that, David had a flash of inspiration, remembering what Luke had said about Freya's domain, and how he wasn't much good with it. Perhaps Luke wasn't only giving a warning or trying to distract him.

David felt his pulse come even quicker. He couldn't speak at all at that moment, to ask Luke to explain or to hint at the same thing Luke had, so he simply held on tighter.


End file.
